[GRLUG] setting up a simple test email server

[Dave Chiodo]

Just a quick note clarifying a few things

smtp, pop, and webmail arent "packages".

smtp is a protocol that one mail system uses to transmit email message
to another mail system.

pop is a protocol that mail clients such as thunderbird/eudora/outlook
can use to download mail from a mailbox

webmail is just a web-based app (php, cgi, asp, perl, etc) that
functions as a mail client and retrieves mail either via pop, imap, or
directly from files to dsplay to the user)

Note that if you are going to be setting up one standalone mailserver
with no external paths in or out, the "canned" configs will work.
As will setting up one with standard inbound/outbound Internet
settings with a real domain and real MX records.
If you want to setup a system whereby multiple local servers are
exchanging mail with either other without real domains and DNS, any
"user friendly" configuration tools may well fall down completely..

And "which" mail server/software is best is in fact a highly
subjective topic. Everyone has their favorite (which may simply be the
one they know) and quite often people have built up strong objections
to certain ones.

FWIW, I prefer exim as an MTA.


On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
<awilliam at whitemice.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 2013-03-25 at 09:50 -0400, Jonathan Jesse wrote:
>> And this is a pretty newbie/dumb question but I would assume if I want
>> mail (smtp and pop) and webmail then there would be 2 sets of packages
>> (programs) to configure as well?
>> Also (don't want to start a flame war) but is there one Mail System
>> (Postfix, Cyrus) that is better (easier) to setup and configure.
>
> No, and neither of those is difficult to configure/setup.
>
> In my experience, other than changing settings for the domain, etc...
> and selecting an authentication mechanism they work out-of-the-box.
>
> If someone is having a great deal of trouble configuring them then they
> are trying too hard, I've seen this rather frequently. Breathe, get a
> cup of coffee, and start over.
>
> openSUSE / SUSE provides a distribution-specific tool - YaST - that will
> do all the configuration for you.  But, again, it isn't much.  The
> default configurations are nearly there for 99.44% of installs.
>
> 1.) Authentication
> 1.a.) Cyrus
> 1.b.) Postfix
>  - in either case saslauthd PLAIN is the simplest for a testing network
> or bootstrapping.
> 2.) Delivery [Postfix delivers to Cyrus via LMTP, for instance]
> 3.) What is your domain?
> 4.) SSL/TLS?  Maybe not relevant for a testing network.
>
> Almost all Postfix configuration should be performed with the postconf
> tool, STAY OUT OF VI!  If someone tells you to use VI to configure
> Postfix then ignore anything they ever say after that, forever.
>
> This might also be helpful
>
> <http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com/2012/02/configuring-postfix-as-smtp-client.html>
>
> --
> Adam Tauno Williams  GPG D95ED383
> Systems Administrator, Python Developer, LPI / NCLA
>
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